1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the surgical instrument art and more particularly to a surgical instrument and method for manipulating, irrigating and aspirating organs and tissue within a surgical area in the abdominal cavity.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In many surgical procedures within the abdominal cavity it is important and difficult to move or manipulate organs or parts thereof (such as sections of the bowel) in order to observe and operate on a particular organ or tissue section within that cavity. It is also often necessary to flush (irrigate) the surgical area with an appropriate fluid (e.g., antiseptic) and/or remove (aspirate) fluid from the area during the operation. Prior art instruments for irrigation and aspiration purposes are available in the form of elongated tubes open at the distal end and equipped with finger operated valves for connecting a source of fluid or vacuum source to the tube. However, such prior art irrigation and aspiration devices which provide only a small tubular tip within the abdominal cavity are ill equipped to manipulate organs or parts thereof so that the surgeon (user) can readily locate the area or organ of interest.
Other prior art devices such as the one described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,744,363 ("'363 patent") are designed so that the tip of the instrument is in the form of a relatively stiff split sleeve which may be expanded to provide a greater surface area with which to move an organ out of the way. The split sleeve would not provide a smooth continuous surface with which to manipulate organs or tissue. Also the '363 device would not readily accommodate structure for irrigating and/or aspirating the surgical area. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,617,013 and 4,759,349 disclose instruments for irrigating, aspirating and illuminating surgical areas. However, these instruments are designed for use in an open abdomen instead of in a closed abdomen (laparoscopy). Furthermore, such prior art instruments are complicated and do not provide any convenient means for moving organs or tissue out of the way to facilitate surgery or other treatment on the desired organ or tissue.
The above disadvantages as well as others inherent in the prior art devices are overcome by the present invention.